THE ART OF ALBERTO GIACOMETTI FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC 10 July 2019 – For the very first time in the Czech Republic, the National Gallery Prague presents the work of one of the most important, influential and beloved artists of the 20th century, the sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966). This extensive retrospective exhibition maps Giacometti’s artistic development across five decades. It follows its course from the artist’s early years in the Swiss town of Stampa, through his avantgarde experiments in inter-war Paris and up to its culmination in the unique manner of figural representation for which the artist is known best. His impressive elongated figures, which Giacometti created after World War II and which carry a sense of existential urgency, reflect his sense for the fragility and vulnerability of the human being. Walking Man, 1960 The Cage, 1950–1951 © Alberto Giacometti Estate, (Fondation Giacometti, Paris + ADAGP, Paris) 2019 ”Thanks to a joint collaboration with the Fondation Giacometti in Paris, who administers the estate of Annette and Alberto Giacometti, we are able to present over one hundred sculptures, including a series of valuable plaster statuettes, to the Czech audience. The exhibition will also feature several of Giacometti’s key paintings and drawings that testify to the breadth of his technical ability and thematic ambit,” says Julia Bailey, the exhibition’s curator from the NGP’s Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art. The exhibition at the Trade Fair Palace will feature such notable examples of Giacometti’s works as Walking Man, Standing Woman or his Women of Venice, which intrigued audiences at the famous Italian Biennale in 1956, as well as several other of his iconic works such as Spoon Woman, Woman with Chariot, Nose and valuable miniature plaster sculptures, intimate portraits of the artist’s family and friends who have been Giacometti’s favourite models all life long. Giacometti, whom Jean-Paul Sartre described as one of the most important existential artists, refused strictly realistic representation because he perceived an insurmountable abyss between reality and art. “The originality of Giacometti’s work lies in the fact that it is situated on the very edge of this chasm. He internalised his earlier struggle with representation to such an extent that it became a motive force for his art,” explains Catherine Grenier, director of the Fondation Giacometti, President of the Giacometti Institute, and co-curator of the show. The exhibition Alberto Giacometti, prepared by the National Gallery in collaboration with the Fondation Giacometti in Paris, will open on 18 July 2019 on the first floor of the Trade Fair Palace and run until 1 December 2019. It will be complemented by a rich accompanying programme as well as a companion volume. ALBERTO GIACOMETTI Date: 18 July – 1 December 2019 Venue: Trade Fair Palace Curators: Julia Tatiana Bailey (NGP), Serena Bucalo-Mussely (Fondation Giacometti), Catherine Grenier (Fondation Giacometti) This exhibition is organised by the National Gallery Prague in collaboration with the Fondation Giacometti, Paris. BIOGRAPHY 1901 Alberto Giacometti was born on 10 October in Borgonovo (Stampa), a little village in Italian-speaking Switzerland. His father, Giovanni Giacometti (1868–1933), was a well- known Swiss neo-impressionist painter. Giovanni Giacometti and Annetta Stampa had three other children: Diego (1902–1985), Ottilia (1904–1937) and Bruno (1907–2012). The painters Cuno Amiet and Ferdinand Hodler were the godparents of Alberto and Bruno. 1904 The family moved to a house in Stampa where Giovanni set up his studio. AROUND 1910 Giovanni acquired a summer house in Maloja, on Lake Sils, where he set up a second studio. Alberto added the finishing touches to a bust of his father made by Auguste de Niederhäusern-Rodo, by painting on it – his first attempt at fusing sculpture and painting. He made his first copies of Albrecht Dürer’s engravings. 1914–15 Alberto Giacometti spent his childhood in Stampa. While very young, he was initiated by his father into drawing and painting. In December 1914, he made his first sculpture: a bust of his brother Diego, who became his main model. In 1915, he realised his first oil painting, Still Life with Apples. All his life he kept those first works in his studio. His brother Bruno, his sister Ottilia and his mother also sat for him. 1915–19 He studied at the Protestant senior school of Schiers, near Coire. 1919–20 He interrupted his studies and enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts, then at Geneva’s École des Arts et Métiers. Under the influence of his father, he made several paintings in a neo-impressionist style. 1920 He left school. He accompanied his father to Venice, where Giovanni officially represented Switzerland at the Biennale. Alberto discovered Tintoretto, then visited Padua, where he saw Giotto’s frescoes. In November, he visited Florence, where he discovered Egyptian art, followed by Rome. The influence of Egyptian sculpture was crucial for the evolution of his art. 1921 He settled in Rome at his father’s cousin’s home, then in a small studio in Via Ripetta. He travelled to Naples and Pompeii, before returning to Maloja for the summer. During that period, he made countless copies of works by the Old Masters. On 3 September, he began a journey with a Dutch librarian named Pieter van Meurs. His elderly travel companion would die in front of him two days later. His work would be influenced by this traumatic experience of death on numerous occasions. 1922 In January, he moved to Paris to study sculpture in the class of Antoine Bourdelle at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. He stayed there until 1927. His sculptures of the time evolved to embrace post-cubism and primitivism. 1925 He rented a small studio in rue Froidevaux, near the Montparnasse Cemetery, where his brother Diego joined him. Diego started sitting for his brother again, and began helping him in his work. Alberto met Pierre Matisse, son of the painter Henri Matisse, who was to represent him in his New York gallery. He sculpted and painted the portrait of Flora Mayo, an American he met at the Grande Chaumière. First participation in the Salon des Tuileries, and first commission from the collector of African art, Josef Müller. 1926 On 1 December, he moved into the studio at 46, rue Hippolyte-Maindron, where he would remain until his death. 1927 He exhibited for the second time at the Salon des Tuileries, alongside Brâncuși and Zadkine in the room for the avant-garde. 1928 He made his first “plaques” (“flat figures”), among them Gazing Head, which he presented at the exhibition Les artistes italiens de Paris (Italian Artists of Paris). A version of that work was bought the following year by the Argentinian collector Elvira de Alvear, and another by the Vicomte de Noailles. 1929 Jeanne Bucher exhibited his work in her gallery. He met Jean Cocteau and André Masson, who introduced him to the avant-garde milieu, then Louis Aragon, Georges Bataille and the historian Carl Einstein. First enthusiastic article on Giacometti by Michel Leiris in the magazine Documents. He signed a one-year contract with Galerie Pierre. He met the photographer Eli Lotar. 1930–31 Man Ray presented him to the interior designer Jean-Michel Frank, for whom he made his first decorative art objects. At Galerie Pierre he exhibited Suspended Ball, which Salvador Dalí named as the prototype for “objects with a symbolic function”. He officially became a member of André Breton’s surrealist group, and took part in its activities. 1932 First solo exhibition in Paris at Galerie Pierre Colle. Christian Zervos wrote an article in Cahiers d’art illustrated with photos taken by Man Ray in Giacometti’s studio. 1933 First print for the illustration of the novel Les pieds dans le plat (Putting My Foot in It) by René Crevel. He published several texts in the magazine Le Surréalisme au service de la revolution (Surrealism in the Service of the Revolution) and, at Tériade’s request, in the magazine Minotaure. He took part in the surrealist exhibition at Galerie Pierre Colle where he sold Table to the Noailles (the work was eventually donated to the Musée national d’art moderne in 1951). His father died a few days later, on 25 June. 1934 In the following months, Giacometti made Head-Skull, Invisible Object and Cube, as a last portrait of his father. He began to distance himself from the surrealist movement, by going back to working from nature. In December, the Julien Levy Gallery organised his first solo exhibition in New York. 1935 Break with the surrealist group. He undertook solitary research on the theme of heads, using as models his brother Diego and the young Rita Gueyfier, who took turns to sit over several months. He befriended Balthus, Francis Gruber and Pierre Tal-Coat. At the end of the year he met Isabel Nicholas, who became his friend and model. 1936 He entrusted Pierre Matisse with representing his work in the United States. The Palace at 4 a.m. entered the collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, his first work in that museum. In Paris, the important Cézanne retrospective at the Musée de l’Orangerie confirmed for him the importance of questioning the vision of reality. 1937 Giacometti became friends with Samuel Beckett, with whom he frequented Montparnasse at night. He visited Picasso in his studio in Grands-Augustins, while he was working on his masterpiece Guernica. His sister Ottilia died in Geneva as she was giving birth to her first child, Silvio. 1938 He was run over by a car. As a result of that accident he afterwards walked with a slight limp.